Federal Lawsuit Demands Costco Label Shrimp Packaging as 'Product of Slavery'

originally posted by: KingKelson
I am also going to ask my managers about this tomorrow. Will post if there's any interest

Absolutely post.

Should be interesting.

Jude

a reply to: jude11

And this is one of the primary reasons that most Democrats are opposed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement currently under consideration in Congress.

It doesn't do enough to protect worker health and safety standards, human rights, environmental standards or even the right of workers to organize to protect themselves against practices like this.

I guess this also explains why Republicans and multi-national corporations are so in favor of it. Go figure!

I know there has been a movement endorsed by certain celebrities to hold Costco accountable for various misdeeds.
Brad Pitt and Bill Maher say Costco contributes to animal cruelty by selling eggs from caged hens.

While it is important to me to know where the things I purchase come from, and to avoid products produced by slavery, I am curious as to why the are going after Costco before Wal-mart? I think it is pretty much common knowledge that Wal-mart is one of the worst offenders.

I care very much about human slavery and do my best not to purchase products made by slavery. (yes, know I am on a computer, but I don't really own any electronics outside of that.) I am glad they are coming out with this, but we are ignoring some of the biggest offenders, such as the textile, beauty and electronics industries.

I am of the opinion that we see a lot of corporate-backed astro-turfing of issues like this targeted at certain companies. I'm sure Walmart and Costco pay well to have it done to one another whenever one of them is against the wall.

When the gripe is legit, I say use the competition to force them into doing the right thing. If the 1% want to start copping plea deals against eachother, let's go ahead and have an outing of their crimes and at least some slaps on the wrist doled out as a step in the right direction.

reply to: [post=19720243]calstorm[/post
We have reviewed recent media reports concerning labor abuses in the Thai fishing industry. The agreements that Costco Wholesale has with its suppliers prohibit, among other things, use of slave labor and other violations of labor law. We are committed to working with our suppliers of Thai shrimp to require them to take corrective action to police their feedstock sources with respect to poor labor practices. This commitment so far has involved visits by our buying staff to Thailand and discussions with the Thai government, our suppliers, and other industry participants. We are continuing those discussions, which are impacted by the state of domestic affairs in Thailand. -Derek

I posted on the costco fb page about this and this is their response. At this time I am not going to comment further (until tomorrow) because they are my new employer and I like having a job. Take it how you will but I will still be asking management about it tomorrow.

a reply to: KingKelson

Ya man don't be bad talking your employer on social media or ats.

Costco seems to be a good gig so hold on to that.

Yeah they seem to be a great company so far, which is why I was so concerned when I saw this. Based on what I know about the company, they will either make the shrimp supplier follow the law or they will drop them completely. They may even leave Thailand completely if they don't cooperate. We shall just have to see.

a reply to: Sremmos80

originally posted by: KingKelson
reply to: [post=19720243]calstorm[/post
We have reviewed recent media reports concerning labor abuses in the Thai fishing industry. The agreements that Costco Wholesale has with its suppliers prohibit, among other things, use of slave labor and other violations of labor law. We are committed to working with our suppliers of Thai shrimp to require them to take corrective action to police their feedstock sources with respect to poor labor practices. This commitment so far has involved visits by our buying staff to Thailand and discussions with the Thai government, our suppliers, and other industry participants. We are continuing those discussions, which are impacted by the state of domestic affairs in Thailand. -Derek

I posted on the costco fb page about this and this is their response. At this time I am not going to comment further (until tomorrow) because they are my new employer and I like having a job. Take it how you will but I will still be asking management about it tomorrow.

Thanks for that. Great addition to the thread.

I hope you still have a job...

Jude

Haha me too. I do plan to go to my managers and explain what happened and apologize if needed. I already responded to the fb post apologizing for any trouble I caused, so here's hoping.

I will also say that Costco does seem like a great company (take that how you will) for employees and members, and most likely (in my humble and partially uninformed opinion) that they will correct this problem or severe ties with Thailand completely, as they have done in the past.

a reply to: jude11

originally posted by: Flatfish
a reply to: jude11

And this is one of the primary reasons that most Democrats are opposed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement currently under consideration in Congress.

It doesn't do enough to protect worker health and safety standards, human rights, environmental standards or even the right of workers to organize to protect themselves against practices like this.

I guess this also explains why Republicans and multi-national corporations are so in favor of it. Go figure!

Speaking of Democrats. John Kerry none the less.

In 2013, Thailand was to be designated as a Tier 3 country on the TIP list, which would allow the country to face mandatory “targeted sanctions” that cut “non-humanitarian, non-trade-related foreign assistance” from the US, until Secretary of State John Kerry issued a pardon to the country, Global Post reported at the time.

www.rt.com...

This whole matter has been simmering for more than a couple of years, and I'll bet that Costco, Walmart and anyone else doing business in this particular Thai industry also knew. The west has a knack at sweeping the ugliest dirt under the rug.

a reply to: KingKelson

although to be fair the people running Costco should not be looking at their employees fb pages to begin with. i wouldn't apologize.

i was told I was the most exciting prospect to a well known company that was interested in hiring me. they asked me to work for them offered a lot of money. more than I've ever made. then they wanted me to sign paper work giving them the right to look at all my social media posts, financial background checks, credit checks, random drug checks , and a whole bunch more.

i literally laughed at her and told her under no circumstances woukd I consider working for them. shoulda seen the look on her face. she thought she was offering me gold or something. it was the principle of the matter.

no employer has the right to look into your private lives.

the fact your worried they might be looking at your fb page makes me want to never give another dime to Costco.

a reply to: jude11

What a misleading headline "Federal Lawsuit Demands Costco Label Shrimp Packaging as 'Product of Slavery'" it should read "Monica Sud files lawsuit in Federal court Demanding Costco Label Shrimp Packaging as 'Product of Slavery'"

The headline makes it sound like the Federal government is one suing COSTCO, which is not true if you you read the whole Seattle Times article it says.

The plaintiff in the California case, Monica Sud, cited news reports, documentaries and reports by London-based Environmental Justice Foundation. As a purchaser of shrimp from Costco, she seeks class-action status on behalf of similar California consumers.

No I went on one of the Costco pages and asked, they didn't see it on my wall ore anything

And good for you sir, for sticking to your morals * tips hat*

a reply to: BASSPLYR

So, are the people that came up with this lawsuit going to want everything that's made with slave labor to be labeled as such?

I hope they like walking around barefoot.

If that's the background on Costco shrimp, I don't even want to know where my Kroger and Safeway shrimp come from.

I'm guessing it's probably much, much worse.

a reply to: HUMBLEONE

Didnt know that Thailand was part of China - is it the capital of China? They never taught geography in your school?

originally posted by: MystikMushroom
If that's the background on Costco shrimp, I don't even want to know where my Kroger and Safeway shrimp come from.

I'm guessing it's probably much, much worse.

The food industry everywhere is built on slavery. From picking crops in the fields in the US to raising shrimp in Thailand to the coffee farmers in South America.